(from left to right) Stars Anna Kendrick and Ben Affleck and director Gavin O’Connor on the set of their 2016 feature film, The Accountant (Moviepilot.de Photo and Caption)

That being said, director O’Connor makes the point, among others, that appearances are deliberately deceptive to hide multifacetedness (à la Christian Wolff naming his accounting practice ZZZ Accounting to prevent people from investigating his money transfers).

Spinning off of that, there is also the idea that controlling that perception of plainness is power (the several camera references in this film, such as, the reference to Wolff’s yard in ‘the whole backyard’s got eyes [camera surveillance]’ and Brax’s instruction to his henchmen, ‘I’ve got the cameras. Go join your friends’).

In line with director O’Connor’s family-set films, there are parents should raise their children rough to prepare them for the future (this is seen in Anna Kendrick’s Dana’s upbringing reference in, ‘[a career in] artdoesn’t pay the mortgage, young lady’ and Seth Lee and Jake Presley’s younger Christian and Brax, respectively, being forcibly trained in martial arts by their father’s colleague).

Separately, and in the vein of 1996’s Courage Under Fire, is the idea that military families may never move beyond their affiliation with the military (as seen by Mary Kraft’s Mrs Wolff saying, ‘my husband’s in the army, which means we all are’ and Robert C Treveiller’s Mr Wolff and Christian visiting Mrs Wolff’s funeral in military uniform).

(from left to right) Star Jon Bernthal and director Gavin O’Connor on the set of 2016’s The Accountant (Collider.com Photo and Caption)

The above being said – and with the emphasis on Cynthia Addai-Robinson’s Marybeth hunting for Christian due to her criminal record looming over her – the film emphasises that people, though only in Christian and Marybeth’s case, are more than they seem.

Vis-à-vis the spun-off idea of perception being power, John Lithgow’s Lamar Black shouts off of Christian’s request to finish his work with, ‘my friend was poisoned enough by them to take his own life’ and alludes to his work making people ‘whole’ when faced with Christian and Brax’s reconciliation. Lamar attempts to keep Christian’s perception of his work and life intact.

Tough parenting pays off, only somewhat, in this film. Christian’s training pays off in his fight against Lamar and the assassins. Dana’s forced accountancy education eventually puts her in harm’s way. The children at Harbor Neuroscience, where Christian would otherwise have gone with Jason Davis’ neuroscientist, grow up peacefully.

(centre-right and right) Director Gavin O’Connor and star Ben Affleck on the set of their 2016 feature film, The Accountant (Collider.com Photo and Caption)

Very simplistically, director Gavin O’Connor’s 2916 feature film, The Accountant, takes the ideas implied above and, often, tells them to you via character backstory, as opposed to just showing them to you. Expect a quantity of sitting down and talking about on-screen and off-screen life.

That being said, 2016’s The Accountant is great for its electronic score, after the Ravenite Social Club track and its visible on-screen action. Fans of director Gavin O’Connor’s work will find something welcome in this film as will newcomers to his filmography.

(from left to right) Director Gavin O’Connor and star Ben Affleck at an event for 2016’s The Accountant (LATimes.com Photo)

Director Gavin O’Connor’s Trademarks in 2016’s The Accountant:

Family-driven films: Much like 2008’s Pride and Glory or 2011’s Warrior, the family unit is important to the confrontations in both of the above and 2016’s The Accountant.

Brother-on-brother conflict: Drawing a parallel between this and 2011’s Warrior, 2016’s The Accountant comes down to brothers fighting each other.

Difficult father figures: Much like Coach Kelleher in 2004’s Miracle, the trials faced by Christian and Brax suffer the training, but are better off for it, imposed by their father.